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The Urantia Book is a book that portrays itself as having been written by spiritual beings as a revelation to man from God. The book originated in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. sometime between 1924 and 1955, but its authorship is considered to be a mystery. The Urantia Book introduces the word Urantia as the name of the planet Earth. Its topics of discussion include God, science, religion, history, and destiny. It expands on the origin and meaning of life.1,2,3 It discusses humanity's place in the universe,1,2,3 discusses the relationship between God and humanity, and presents a detailed biography of Jesus.

The Urantia Foundation first published The Urantia Book in 1955 in English. Translations into numerous languages are available with several new translations in process. In 2001, Urantia Foundation lost the U.S. copyright to the English version in a court decision and it went into the public domain.

Contents

[edit] Overview

The Urantia Book consists of a forward and four sections. The Foreword is in outline form and is presented as a guide to the terminology used throughout the rest of the book, introducing explanations for concepts and words that are developed in greater detail with later papers. Parts I, II, and III of the Urantia Book are chiefly written in expository style of language, and is informational, matter-of-fact, and instructional in tone.

Part I of the Urantia Book, consisting of 31 papers, is entitled The Central and Superuniverses. It addresses what are considered the highest levels of creation beginning with the concepts of the eternal and infinite God, the structure of the universe in which He lives, and His relationship to this universe.

Part II, consisting of 25 papers, is entitled The Local Universe. It expands on Part I and presents narratives on the inhabitants of local universes and their work, as it is coordinated with God’s plans in the larger schemes of creation. Part III, consisting of 63 papers, is entitled The History of Urantia (earth) and presents a story of yet further examination and explanation of the origin, history, purpose and destiny of the Earth and of its inhabitants.

Part IV, consisting of 77 chapters, is entitled The Life and Teachings of Jesus. It is written as a biography of Jesus' life, and some feel it is a rich narrative with well-developed characters, high attention to detail, woven sub-plots, and realistic dialogue. Included are papers about his childhood, teenage years, numerous travels, several preaching tours, miracles, crises, and events that led to his crucifixion, death and resurrection, the Pentecost, and finally, "The Faith of Jesus". Part IV illustrates many of the concepts presented in the first three parts through the story of Jesus' life.

The Urantia Book does not present a formal religion. It is noted for its high level of internal consistency and an advanced writing style. There is a constant theme throughout the book commending the teachings of Jesus and a basic gospel of simple faith in the fatherhood of God and resultant brotherhood of mankind. The Urantia Book teaches that all mortals can establish a real connection to God, and thereby enjoy life as self-aware children of God and ascending universe citizens.

While the book includes a stance that anticipates a shared destiny of unity of purpose for everyone, for the present day it purports to integrate the spiritual and truthful common ground of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and all other living world religions, while not being directed at any of them.

[edit] Mysterious origin

The exact circumstances of the origin of The Urantia Book are unknown. There is not a human author associated with the book. It is written as if directly presented by numerous celestial beings appointed to the task of providing a new spiritual revelation to humankind.

It is reported that a person of unknown identity received the material from celestial intelligences while asleep.[4][7][8] The individual, known as the "sleeping subject" or "contact personality", is said to have been kept anonymous in order to prevent undesirable future veneration or reverence for him.

As early as 1911, William S. Sadler and his wife Lena Sadler (born Lena Kellogg), both practicing physicians in Chicago, Illinois, became the attending physicians of the sleeping subject after the individual's wife reported that she could not wake him. Over time, the unconscious subject produced communications from entities who claimed to be personal spiritual beings. Lena and William Sadler were respected physicians in Chicago and well known in the community. William Sadler had a reputation as a debunker of paranormal claims and is generally portrayed as not believing in supernatural claims.

In 1924, a group of Sadler's friends, former patients, and colleagues originally began meeting for Sunday intellectual discussions, but became interested in the strange communications of the sleeping subject when Sadler mentioned the case, and read samples at their request. Shortly afterwards, a communication was received that this group would be allowed to devise questions and that answers would be given by the celestial beings through the contact personality.

Sadler presented this development to the group, and they generated hundreds of questions without full seriousness, but it resulted in the appearance, one by one, of answers in the form of fully written papers. They became more impressed with the quality of the answers and continued to ask questions, until all papers now collected together as The Urantia Book were received. The group was known as the Forum. A smaller group of five individuals called the Contact Commission, including the Sadlers, was responsible for gathering the questions from the Forum, acting as the custodians of the handwritten manuscripts that were presented as answers, and arranging for proofreading and typing of the material that arrived.

The Sadlers and others involved, now all deceased, claimed[9] that the papers of the book were physically materialized from 1925 until 1935 in a way that was not understood even by them, with the first three parts being completed in 1934 and the fourth in 1935. The last Forum gathering was in 1942. Also documented are methods of reception that Sadler refuted as the way the papers were received.[7]

After all of the written material was received in 1935, an additional period of time took place where requests for clarifications resulted in revisions. Sadler and his son William (Bill) Sadler, Jr. at one point wrote a draft introduction but were supposedly told by the revelators that they could not add their introduction because "A city can not be lit by a candle."[1] The Foreword was then provided by the celestial beings. Bill Sadler is noted to have composed the table of contents that is published with the book, however.

The communications with the celestial beings purportedly continued for another two decades while members of the Forum began to study the book in depth, and according to Sadler and others, permission to publish the book was given to them in 1955. An organization called Urantia Foundation was formed from early believers, and through privately raised funds, the book was published under international copyright on October 12, 1955.


[edit] Teachings of the Urantia Book

A selection and summary of central teachings of The Urantia Book are presented below:

[edit] The Nature of God

See also: God
See also: Jesus

The Urantia Book portrays god as a personal deity [1] who is said to be a "mystery" because of the absolute and perfect nature of these personal qualities. A focus is made upon the kind, compassionate, and merciful nature of deity. Due to these inherent qualities, The Urantia Book states that it is unnecessary to try to induce the favor of deity towards humans.

The Urantia Book portrays deity as spirit personalities who are directly involved in creating and upholding reality. The central deities exist we are told, in the form of a trinity of three spirit persons who are co-equal and united, and are considered to be "existential" in nature, meaning that those persons have an absolute existence from the eternal past into the eternal future.

A dimension of deity is described as "experiential" — a phase of deity that is evolving, incomplete and in the process of actualizing. This evolving phase of deity is called the "the Supreme Being" in The Urantia Book. It is given some attention and is said to be important to the destiny of the human race. It has a purpose of unifying the "finite evolutionary universes of space and time and infinite reality".

Many types of celestial beings are described in The Urantia Book. One of particular importance is called a "Creator Son". "Creator Sons" are created spirit personalities of the of the central trinity who have an origin, but no end of lifespan. The Urantia Book identifies Jesus of Nazareth as a "Creator Son" who incarnated on earth and whose life and teachings are portrayed as the fullest revelation of the personality and attitude of god ever given to humanity. The purpose of Jesus' earth mission was to complete the last of a series of incarnations that led to establishing his sovereignty in our local universe.

[edit] God and the individual

Main article: Religion

The central deity called "the Universal Father" is stated to impart a spirit fragment to live in the mind of each individual. These spirit fragments are self-aware self contained units, each with capacities for thinking and planning, working and acting, communicating, and loving. Each spirit fragment that is sent out to live in the minds of human beings has an individualized plan of the ideal life for the particular human they indwell. This spirit then serves noncoercively as a divine partner for the rest of the individuals' life. By following the inner leadings of the living spirit of God, an individual "chooses" God's will. God-consciousness is said to consist of awareness of the idea, ideal, and spirit nature of God. The attitude of simple trusting faith and sincerity is said as being the essential attitude each person should have toward God and leads a person to love and serve other people.

A person forms their own ideas of God and the way they relate to their personal idea of God constitutes their religion. Religion can be and is formalized, but still is practiced by each person in their own individual form. Religion is said to be a unique dimension of human experience that originates in man's moral consciousness as spiritual insight in the personality, as revealed by the spirit of God. It is the pursuit and formation of spirtual values and beliefs and is "realized by one's faith".

The position of The Urantia Book towards religion is one of reliance on faith alone over scientific or philosophical reasoning, neither of which will ever be able to prove or disprove the existence of God. It teaches that faith is necessary to become conscious of God's presence in human experience through interaction with the inner spirit of God. There is paradox also due to God's existing both as a spirit that is personally encountered , and as a transcendant being that is beyond human understanding.

Ideally, religion for the individual is to be blended with philosophy and morality, science and revelation. The human individual is thus more "cosmically" minded. This type of spiritual and cosmically oriented mindset as it becomes widespread , is said to be central to the progressive advance of civilization through the 7 stages of social evolution.

[edit] Cosmology and science

See also: Science

Universe structure

The Urantia Book presents a unique cosmological perspective on the universe and humankind's relation to it. It teaches that the universe is vastly older than current scientific theories state, and that the universe is the product of intelligent and purposeful organization, rather than originating in the Big Bang.

The universe is composed of seven outer superuniverses that revolve around Paradise, which is found at the center. In between Paradise and the superuniverses is another system of planets that also circle Paradise, known as the inner central universe. There are many complex relationships that are describecd in the Urantia Book about these universe systems.

Organization of the cosmos

The term "universe" is used to denote a number of different scales of organization. (The book was written at a time when galaxies outside of the Milky Way were still called "island universes".) A superuniverse is roughly the size of a galaxy or group of galaxies. A local universe is described as approximately one million times smaller than the size of a superuniverse. The modern dictionary definition of universe — all existing matter and space taken as a whole — is referred to as the "master universe". When the term "universe" is used alone, the type of universe usually can be inferred from the context.

The visualization of the cosmos presented from the center outward is:

  • Paradise — "the most gigantic organized body of cosmic reality in all the master universe."
  • The spheres of paradise — 21 enormous worlds, 3 circuits of 7 worlds each. These circle paradise within the margin of space between the central universe and paradise.
  • The central universe — one billion (1,000,000,000) perfect worlds across seven circuits, with "upwards of thirty-five million worlds" in the first or inner circuit, "over two hundred and forty-five million worlds" in the seventh or "outermost" circuit, and "proportional numbers" of worlds in the intervening circuits.
  • The seven superuniverses exist beyond the central universe, swing around the central universe and have an approximate diameter of 400,000 - 500,000 light-years. These contain the evolutionary worlds of time and space. The seven superuniverses are then immediately surrounded by another midspace zone "which varies in width but averages 400,000 light-years". One of the stated purposes of the cosmos is to provide worlds where intelligent life may be created or evolved from primitive life. Each of the seven superuniverses, when fully developed, would have approximately one trillion inhabited worlds. Each divisional level has "architectural worlds", including a headquarters sphere, which are worlds made to order and are independently lighted and heated for the celestial and other life of those spheres. They are created to be administrative and educational worlds and are said to be at the approximate, and sometimes exact, gravity center of their regions of inhabited worlds and physical systems. A detailed organization of superuniverses is provided. Briefly, levels of organization are:

[edit] Evolutionary History

Main article: Evolution
See also: Universe

The origin of our planet is said to have begun 875 billion years ago when specialized space beings initiated a nebulae within the sector of the universe which we now inhabit. The nebulae underwent development, creating numerous suns: our sun was formed 6 billion years ago. Our solar system was formed out of the sun 4.5 billion years ago. A passing star system exerted gravitaional force on the sun, pulling a column of gases out into space. This is said to have become the solar system of which our earth is a part.

2 billion years ago, a primitive atmosphere was forming due to the heated interior, and the cooling crust of our earth. There was an age of volcanic activity. As the surface continued to cool, a period of constant rain developed, that combined with the heated surface of the earth, formed a planet of steam.

800 million years ago a land mass appeared, which eventually broke up into the continents we currently have. Further cooling and moisture eventually led to the formation of a planet-wide ocean.

Meanwhile, the spiritual administrators on the [inhabited system capital] received a favorable report of our primitive planet from a scouting party, and gave approval for our planet to become one of the "life experiment planets". This gave permission to the celestial beings designated for the role of life implementation to try new forms of biochemical life to implant on our planet when it was suitable. Paper 57.

550 million years ago primitive marine life forms were implanted at three locations: one in the Asia-Africa region, one in the Australia region, and one in the American region. From early marine organisms emerged multicellular plants and animals. There is a complex evolutionary process described in the Urantia Book, that takes place up until the appearance of the immediate ancestors of mankind, about one million years ago.

[edit] Destiny

The Urantia Book teaches that an ideal plan exists for the social evolution of a planet. While slow progression is the normal pace, there can be periods of rapid improvement and the also the possibility of retrogression. There are seven stages of development, each introduced and nurtured by a celestial being. At the end is supposed to be a worldwide age of spiritual enlightenment.

Stage one First is the age of primitive man. Here mankind chiefly engages in survival pursuits such as hunting and gathering, is pugnacious and brutal, and has only rudimentary fear-based superstitions as a religious reaction to life.

Stage two With the arrival of the first celestial mission, higher religious understanding is attained. This is when government appears on a planet, and tribes begin to advance in increased organization into a "high state of civilization". The average length of time for this period is 500,000 years. Through teachings of religious revelation to the planet is a major part of the mission, which contributes to the development of higher social achievements. Agricultural activity and the domestication of animals is fostered.

Stage three The chief mission of the third celestial mission is the biological improvement of the races of mankind through reproductive means. Racial blending is fostered, and socially internationalism becomes widespread, nationalism receeds, and there develops the "brotherhood of mankind". "Great ethical advancement characterizes this era. World-wide peace-the cessation of race conflict and national animosity

Stage four When the population of an inhabited world has progressed to the point that the different races have blended and are biologically fit, the "brotherhood of man" is flourishing, and the nations of the earth are learning to live together in peace and tranquility, the fourth celestial mission is approaching readiness. This era extends the horizon of revealed religion and truth, to portray the functioning of the societies of the inhabited local system and its tributaries.

With the visit of the fourth stage celestial visitors, economic liberation of the planet often will occur: the daily work that is required to sustain each individual's independence is said to require just 2 1/2 hours of work a day. People of this age use much of their time in self- improvement and in advancement of the planet. Political government and social administration have advanced to a high level of efficiency. During the closing phases of the fourth stage, society begins to return to more simplified, natural ways of living. There is a flowering of art, music, and higher learning.

Stage five Towards the end of this fourth stage, a religious awakening is said to occur, that brings in an age of world-wide spiritual enlightenment. The next higher order of celestial being then arrives. This is the beginning of the 5th stage of social evolution. This era needs to have acheived a certain level of educational culture for this age to occur. The "passion" of human living in this evolutionary stage is said to be "the penetration of cosmic reality and communion with spiritual reality".

Stage six The 6th stage of social evolution receives celestial visitors that have origin with the trinity of paradise. This mission is the trinity's addition to the preceeding efforts of all the divine personalities who have contributed to the development of an inhabited world. The revelation of truth in now extended to the central universe and to paradise. An entirely new order of society has arrived, which is very spiritual.

In the sixth stage it becomes possible to put the golden rule into practicle operation. The teachiings of Jesus are really applicable to a mortal world which has had the preliminary training of the prebestowal Sons with their dispensatons of character enoblement and culture augmentation.

(It is noted that the physical administration of a world during this age requires about 1 hour a day on the part of every adult individual). Natural death becomes less frequent, as there is more bypassing of death through spirit fusion. The end of this stage leads into the "age of Light and Life".

[edit] Comparison with other religions

Main article: Christianity

Christianity

Of all current world religions, The Urantia Book's teachings are likely the most consistent with the teachings of Christianity. There are significant differences between The Urantia Book and commonly accepted Christian beliefs though. Many believers see it as extending Judeo-Christian religious concepts in the same way the New Testament may be considered an extension of Old Testament ideas.

Jesus is held in high regard by The Urantia Book, as he is in the New Testament of the Bible. Part IV, more than one third of the content in The Urantia Book, is devoted to a narrative of his life and teachings.

The following are attributed to Jesus, as in the Bible[2]:

  • He was a Son of God incarnate, born to Mary and Joseph
  • He was God in man, both human and divine
  • He lived a perfect life
  • He revealed God to man as "the way, the truth, and the life"
  • He performed many of the miracles described in the Bible, such as the resurrection of Lazarus, the turning of water into wine, the feeding of the five thousand, and numerous healings of the blind, diseased, and infirm
  • He taught twelve apostles, eleven of whom went on to spread his teachings
  • He was crucified, and on the third day after his death, rose from the dead
  • He will return to our world again some day

The Urantia Book shares the following general concepts with most Christian faiths[2]:

  • God is the creator of all reality
  • God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinite, and eternal
  • God is described as a loving personality–"God is love"
  • God is a single deity that exists in a Trinity of three persons
  • God has a vast "heavenly host"
  • Believers who have a personal relationship with God are "born of the spirit"
  • Those having faith survive death
  • Angels and divine personalities exist and can be sent to guard and minister to people throughout their lives.

Some differences with Christianity include[3][4][5]:

  • Jesus' crucifixion was not an atonement for the sins of humanity. The crucifixion was an outcome of the fears of religious leaders of the day, who regarded his teachings as a threat to their positions of authority.
  • God is never wrathful or angry. He is a personality entirely motivated by Father-like love.
  • Jesus is the human incarnation of "Michael of Nebadon," one of more than 700,000 "Paradise Sons" of God, or "Creator Sons." Jesus is not considered the second person of the Trinity as he is in Christianity. The book refers to the Eternal Son as the second person of the Trinity.
  • Jesus was born on earth through natural means of conception. The Virgin Birth is the product of human myth developed later.
  • Jesus did not walk on water or perform some of the miracles that are attributed to him in the Bible. These were attributed to him after his life.
  • Jesus rose from the dead in a "more glorified form," a transitional stage between material and spiritual existence known as the "morontia" form. As with all mortals, his physical body was subject to decomposition, but celestial beings removed his body from the tomb for the immediate dissolution of his remains through a process of "accelerated time."
  • The book says that Jesus may return to the world many times. Common Christian eschatology doctrines, such as the Rapture, where Jesus returns to take faithful believers to heaven and leaves behind unbelievers for tribulation, are not supported.

Buddhism

Main article: Buddism

The Urantia Book considers Buddhism one of the "great international, interracial faiths" and says it "has shown an adaptability to the mores of many peoples that has been equaled only by Christianity."

Gautama Siddhartha is called a real prophet whose doctrines were revolutionary and amazing for their time. He is credited with being one of the seven outstanding teachers in human history, a group that includes Moses, Laozi, and the Apostle Paul.

The teaching that a divine nature — the Buddha-nature — resides in all people, and that through their own endeavors people can attain a realization of this inner divinity, is cited as one of the clearest presentations of the concept of the Thought Adjuster (the distributed spirit fragment of God) to be found in non-revelatory religion.

The book says Gautama's experience was tragic, however, in that he was an "orphan prophet" whose philosophy failed early on to envision the reality of a spiritual God. (The Urantia Book uses the term "orphan" to qualify the status of a person that does not have a living relationship with God as a person).

Despite this, the book states: "Buddhism is a living, growing religion today because it succeeds in conserving many of the highest moral values of its adherents. It promotes calmness and self-control, augments serenity and happiness, and does much to prevent sorrow and mourning. Those who believe this philosophy live better lives than many who do not."


[edit] Critical views

Critcism as a revelation

The claim of revelation in The Urantia Book has been criticized for various reasons. Skeptics such as Martin Gardner say it is a product of human efforts rather than a revelation because some of its science is flawed. Because the book does not support certain fundamental tenets of Christianity, while at the same time presenting an account of Jesus' life with non-Biblical elements, those with a Christian viewpoint have argued it cannot be a genuine divine revelation. Some have considered it to be gnostic, however The Urantia Book does not advocate tenets associated with Gnosticism. Other critics have felt that at over 2,000 pages — nearly twice the length of the King James Bible — it is too long, complex, and bureaucratic in its thinking.

The book has been in print since 1955, but in comparison to other religious or holy books that have a recent origin and revelatory claims, such as the Book of Mormon, popularity of The Urantia Book has not grown as fast. The Urantia Book has received limited published or formal critical analysis. Likely the most common points of contention include:

  • Brad Gooch writes, "Because of its insistence on having been written by a committee of extraterrestrial beings, The Urantia Book falls for most people to the far left of believability."[5]
  • From a scientific point of view, parts of the science it describes conflict with modern theories.
  • Some of the concepts are alleged to have been plagiarized.
  • To those who assert that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, it denies some Christian doctrines that are held to be true, and therefore is not acceptable.
  • The small movement inspired by The Urantia Book has not developed institutions such as churches, reading rooms, or temples, and has no membership by which a census of the number of followers can be taken.[5] As of 2006, the Urantia Foundation had one office in Chicago and five people on staff.[6]


The Urantia Book has been enjoyed by some as a form of science fiction, historical fiction, or fantasy. By others it is considered as historical fact. Even the skeptic Martin Gardner, in his critical book, writes that it is "highly imaginative" and that the "cosmology outrivals in fantasy the cosmology of any science-fiction work known to me."

Considered as literature, Part IV is favorably compared to other retellings of Jesus' life, such as The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago and Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock. Martin Gardner considers Part IV to be an especially "well-written, impressive work," and says, "Either it is accurate in its history, coming directly from higher beings in position to know, or it is a work of fertile imagination by someone who knew the New Testament by heart and who was also steeped in knowledge of the times when Jesus lived."

Criticism of the science of the Urantia Book

Skeptics like Martin Gardner see the science in The Urantia Book as clear reflections of the views that prevailed at the time the book is said to have originated. The claim by the authors that no unknown scientific discoveries could be imparted is seen as a ruse to allow mistakes to be dismissed later. That presentation of post-1955 scientific knowledge is avoided is taken to be evidence it was written by humans and not by celestial beings with superior knowledge.

Criticisms regarding the science in The Urantia Book include[3]:

  • The described formation of the solar system is consistent with the Chamberlin-Moulton planetesimal hypothesis [1]. Though popular in the early part of the 20th century, by the early 1940s it was discarded by Henry Russell's argument that it was incompatible with the angular momentum of planets such as Jupiter [2]. The currently accepted scientific explanation for the origin of the solar system is based on the nebular hypothesis.
  • The age of our universe is stated to be more than 1,000,000,000,000 years old and the universe is said to periodically expand and contract — respire — at 2-billion-year intervals. The big bang theory is not supported.
  • A fundamental particle called an "ultimaton" is proposed, with an electron being composed of 100 ultimatons. The particle is not known to be described anywhere else and the concept is not supported by modern particle physics.
  • Some species are said to have evolved suddenly from single mutations without transitional species. The theory originated with Dutch botanist Hugo De Vries but was short-lived and is not now supported.
  • According to The Urantia Book, multi-colored human races originated suddenly in one generation and in one family, producing brothers and sisters that variously turned blue, yellow, red, green, orange, and indigo when exposed to sunlight. Their offspring subsequently favored the parent color. Later, Adam and Eve produced a violet race. In the book's account, the blue, yellow, and red races were considered "primary," and the green, orange, and indigo "secondary." The green and orange races were driven to extinction, and the rest mixed over time. Modern evolutionary theory does not support the account.
  • The book repeats the idea prevalent at the time of its origin that one side of the planet Mercury always faces the sun due to tidal locking. In 1965, radio astronomers discovered that Mercury actually rotates fast enough for all sides to see exposure to the sun.
  • The book says that a solar eclipse was predicted in 1808 by the Native American prophet Tenskwatawa. The eclipse actually was predicted in late April of 1806 and occurred on June 16, 1806.

Controversial statements about human races can be found in the book. Supporters state that criticism has arisen mainly due to reading passages out of context. Gardner believes that William S. Sadler, who wrote some eugenicist works, had a hand in editing or writing the book, and that this is how the ideas were included.

While some adherents of the book believe that all of the information in The Urantia Book including its science is literally true, many others accept the book's caveats and do not believe that the science is fully accurate.

The following 3 paragraphs go to footnote

Meredith Sprunger, a liberal believer in The Urantia Book and retired minister in the United Church of Christ, writes, "research has revealed that virtually all of the scientific material found in The Urantia Book was the accepted scientific knowledge of the period in which the book was written, was held by some scientists of that time, or was about to be discovered or recognized." He argues against its literal infallibility and that fundamentalism over the book is "just as untenable as Biblical fundamentalism."[3]

Other believers maintain that the book has prophetically anticipated scientific advances already. They believe more of its science — if not all of it — will be proven correct in the future. Gardner evaluated many of these claims as of 1995 and found them unconvincing. Some arise because the book is said to have been indited by the revelators by 1935, but then was not published until 1955. Science discovered during the two intervening decades can be perceived as prophetic by believers, while skeptics think such facts were added prior to publication. For instance, the catalytic role that carbon plays in the sun's nuclear reactions is described in the book, though Hans Bethe's announcement of the discovery was not made until 1938.

The only apparent anticipation of science the book has made, in Gardner's opinion, is that it says the magnetic sense that homing pigeons possess is "not wholly wanting as a conscious possession by mankind." In 1980, a British zoologist, Robin Baker, published evidence that humans have a limited magnetic sense.

Plagiarism allegations

The Urantia Book states in its Foreword that more than one thousand "human concepts representing the highest and most advanced planetary knowledge of spiritual values and universe meanings" were selected in preparing the papers concerning the Deities and the universe of universes. The authors say that although "it is exceedingly difficult to present enlarged concepts and advanced truth" using the word symbols of the English language, they are required to "give preference to the highest existing human concepts pertaining to the subjects to be presented" and "may resort to pure revelation only when the concept of presentation has had no adequate previous expression by the human mind."

In recent years, students of the papers have found that the free use of other sources appears to be true.[3][5] None of the material allegedly used from other sources are directly cited or referenced within the book.

In 1992, a reader of The Urantia Book, Matthew Block, self-published a paper that showed nineteen alleged examples of The Urantia Book utilizing material published earlier.[7] All of the source authors identified in Block's paper were published in English between 1905 and 1943 by U.S. publishers and are typically scholarly or academic works that contain concepts and wording similar to what is found in The Urantia Book. Block has since claimed to have discovered over 125 source books and articles, written by over 90 authors, which were incorporated into the papers.[3]

The use of outside source materials was studied separately by Gardner and Gooch, and they concluded that the book did use many of the sources noted by Block. Gardner found that at least one of the source book authors was quoted in earlier works by Sadler, and most of the books purportedly would have been available to Sadler or Forum members in Chicago prior to 1955.

For instance, Gardner and Block note that Paper 85 appears to have been taken from the first eight chapters of Origin and Evolution of Religion by E. Washburn Hopkins, published by Yale University Press in 1923. Each section of the paper corresponds to a chapter in the book, with several passages possibly used as direct material. Likewise, much of The Urantia Book material relating to the evolution of mankind appears to have been directly taken from Henry Fairfield Osborn, Man Rises to Parnassus: Critical Epochs in the Prehistory of Man published by Princeton University Press in 1928.

In one example cited by Block, the original author discusses the periodicity of the chemical elements and concludes that the harmony in the construction of the atom suggests some unspecified plan of organization. After being "plagiarized," the authors of The Urantia Book assert that this harmony is evidence of the intelligent design of the universe. W. F. G. Swann writes on page 64 of The Architecture of the Universe (italics indicate edits, bolding indicates deletions):

Starting from any one of them [i.e., chemical elements], and noting some property such as the melting point, for example, the property would change as we went along the row, but as we continued it would gradually come back to the condition very similar to that which we started ... The eighth element was in many respects like the first, the ninth like the second, the tenth like the third, and so on. Such a slate of affairs point[s] not only to a varied internal structure, but also to a certain harmony in that variation suggestive of some organized plan in building the atom.

Contrast with The Urantia Book's version:

Starting from any one element, after noting some one property, such a quality will exchange for six consecutive elements, but on reaching the eighth, it tends to reappear, that is, the eighth chemically active element resembles the first, the ninth the second, and so on. Such a fact of the physical world unmistakably points to the sevenfold constitution of ancestral energy and is indicative of the fundamental reality of the sevenfold diversity of the creations of time and space.

Block and many believers do not see the use of human source materials as plagiarism. Block writes:

One probable reason that the human sources were left undisguised was to enable students to discern, through comparative analysis, how this coordination of planetary knowledge was actually effected. As mentioned above, the initial analyses have already proved tremendously illuminating in this regard. Another reason was to keep us aware of the book’s anchorage in a specific time and place. While a very large part of the book is of timeless value and perennial applicability, some of its discussions directly address and respond to the world situation of the early 20th century. Thus, every generation will have to determine the relevance and applicability of certain of the book’s teachings to its own situation.

Emerging from all these discoveries is the gratifying realization that the Urantia Book is exactly what its authors claim it to be....

It should be noted that the wording and phraseology is not a verbatim replication, and no plagiarism has been proven officially. In some instances, the authors of The Urantia Book have made subtle changes to, or expansions of, the possible source materials.


plagarism

[edit] Adherents

Same as current article

[edit] Symbols

Same as current article

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Foreward
  2. ^ a b Urantia Foundation (1955). The Urantia Book. Urantia Foundation. ISBN 0-911560-02-5
  3. ^ a b c d e Gardner, Martin (1995). Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-955-0
  4. ^ House, Dr. H. Wayne (2000). Charts of Cults, Sects, and Religious Movements. Zondervan. ISBN 0-310-38551-2
  5. ^ a b c d Gooch, Brad (2002). Godtalk: Travels in Spiritual America. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-44709-1
  6. ^ 2006 Urantia Foundation annual report (PDF)
  7. ^ "Some Human Sources of The Urantia Book" by Matthew Block, originally published in 1992. Describes suspected parallels Block found between The Urantia Book and possible human sources of material.

[edit] See also